Always The Hero
by Aruta Rianu
Summary: When the will defies fear, when duty throws the gauntlet down to fate, when honor scorns to compromise with death - that is heroism. But sometimes the hero has to fall... and someday the hero will learn reality turns it all around. Layle-centric for now


For Starters: This is a FF:CCTCB fanfiction. There may or may not be any crossovers with past CC titles, but possibilities may arise. For now, Belle starts the whole story but no worries; she is not the main character. She has to create an opening for this fic to happen! :)

Please enjoy!

(PS- You won't hate this, I swear. -blowkiss-)

**Prologue: Open Sky**

It's been seven months. Seven frickin', infuriating, hair-tangling, long months.

I remember the time when I first said that _he_ was still alive. It was during the princess' alliance treaty when they began talking about _him _being dead and stuff. They looked pretty normal, but I know deep inside they were pretty depressed too. But not me. I know he's bound to be running around wherever the wind carries _him_. He still has to foot the bill on himself; he does owe me big time. That's why I said, "Leave _him_ to me!"

I sounded so sure about it, and I really was for heaven's sake.

The next one was around five months after my first roundabout trip around the kingdom for that idiot. Queen Althea asked, or rather begged me to "come back to the real world" and take a break with her. I didn't decline on her offer, of course. I rarely had a vacation and I needed it as well. Who knew finding _him _would be so damn stressful anyway? I hurriedly flew back to Alfitaria when she contacted me via the crystal radio.

Though now I wish I didn't come when they started talking some sense to me (as Keiss would often call it) when I came back to the kingdom. Both of them were starting to loose hope.

They made me think of the truth that he might be gone after all.

_-About a couple or so months ago-_

My trip back to the Lilty Kingdom was rather taxing. Selkies normally loved going on wild adventures and outdoor trips, but… for some odd reason, I felt wearier than I used to be. Maybe because I wasn't used to flying around the continent in longer lengths?

It didn't really matter much to me though.

Before I went to Alfitaria though, I stopped by the Winery to go look for something to bring to the palace. It felt kind of wrong that I could just waltz in her territory without anything to present to royalty. I'm pretty thrifty, but I know of courtesy to the rich! I want to look good in front of her, you know.

As I got in to the core of the cellar after a long walk from the maze-like vineyard, I stumbled upon the Winery Mother. She's an awesome woman, if you ask me. Hah, I know about the time when _he _fooled around with the huge barrels and started spilling hefty amounts of rainbow wine in the hallways. What a waste! He truly deserved what he got from her- a huge burn mark on his favorite jacket! That was just pure stupidity on his part; the kind old woman **spits fire **when her produce are touched.

I remember laughing my ass off when I looked at the sulky face _he_ had put on.

… I wonder when I'd be able to laugh at him again.

The Winery Mother noticed me walking down the stairway and hurriedly ran to where I took my last step. She was a middle-aged, plump and lively woman who had hazel brown hair and green eyes. Despite being deposed with unhealthy labor, she seemed joyous.

"Fancy seeing another lovely girl here. Looking for work or buying a good bottle of rainbow wine?" she asked as she carefully wiped her hands clean with a towel of what looked like purplish bits of grapes in her palms. I smiled in a nonchalant way as I do to women older than me and answered her question. "Well, I'm not really out of work right now, so I was actually planning on the latter."

"I see. Just the regular bottle I assume?"

"That's just fine."

The Winery Mother slung her towel on her shoulder and started to walk away from her spot. "Follow me then, I'll let you choose the class and strength yourself." I nodded and proceeded to follow her to their storage area.

As I trailed behind her, a flash of blond hair got past the corner of my eyes, and I instantly turned around out of bewilderment.

'_Could it be..?'_

Taking a grip on the person's shoulder, I spun him around rather quickly so I could take a look at his face, but because of my eagerness to look at him, I accidentally pushed him to the ground and after that I heard a loud crash of falling crates and glass on the floor. A shriek came out of my mouth and I stepped back, my eyes shut closed out of alarm.

"What the- what the hell was that all about?" My eyes forced _themselves_ open to look at the Clavat man shouting at me, crouching on the ground as he hastily picked up the broken glass from the mess. I stared at him dumbfounded for a while and quickly regained myself when I heard the Winery Mother scream atrociously at us and ran to the scene of the crime.

'_Shoot. If she finds out about this, I'd have to pay for all of those!'_ I panicked in my thoughts; my wallet already hosts dust just for the crystal fuel I spend for Keiss' plane, I don't want any other serious expenses!

"Wh-what are you talking about, you idiot! You knocked me with your shoulder first!" I feigned rage, my arms crossed and my head jerked to the ceiling as if I was sneering at the worker. The Clavat man gaped at me and gritted his teeth. "_What?_ You Selkie brat! Don't try to get out of this one!"

I turned around to face the Winery Mother and looked at her with teary eyes. "He was speeding his way past me and now he blames me for the mess he made. He's just too cruel!" I whined. The Winery Mother's eyes shifted from me to the other man back and forth in confusion. When nothing happened, I cried my way to victory.

Then there was silence.

The Clavat man coughed nervously his eyebrows furrowed in guilt. "Hey, you didn't have to cry, y'know." He said. "M'am, it… was actually my fault. Sorry!" He instantly bowed for "forgiveness" in front of the distressed owner and made a side glance at me with slightly frustrated eyes.

As I listened to the owner's heated words at the blonde man, I tried to swallow my own guilt and blocked away her voice from my head. Clavats are way too kind for their own good…

Unexpectedly, I saw a familiar face appear in my train of thoughts. Just like any other Clavat, _he _was the same as this guy. _He _would come to your aid.

_He_ would always be there to help you.

I slowly looked back at where the worker I crashed on and watched him.

'_It wasn't him… I should've known.'_

After I got what I wanted from the Winery, I hurriedly flew my way to Queen Althea's palace. It seems that she was expecting me to appear soon, since she was already waiting for me at the table in the open flower field I was going to land the plane on. Scattered around her were some Lilty guards, who looked rather stiff and ready to attack if someone were to come in contact with the Queen. Those creepy oversized leeks could get really brutal sometimes if you pushed the wrong buttons… and a hundred or more times of experience were enough for me.

Landing Keiss' plane, she stood up from her garden chair and gracefully folded her hands at her front, waiting for me to come out of the pilot's seat and join her in her "backyard garden." If you could even actually consider it as a backyard garden anyway, that is…

As soon as I leaped out to the grassy floor, she strode towards me and pulled on my hand with a smile on her face.

"It's really nice to see you again, Belle. I thought you wouldn't consider my offer!" she chirped happily at me. "You've been working so hard on your search, you know. I'd like it if you talk with me for sometime."

"Of course, Your, uhh, Highness. It's a pleasure to spend a day with you!" I nervously replied my rehearsed line. She blinked at me cutely and laughed.

"Drop the formalities and speak as you wish! We're comrades, even inside the palace grounds."

"Then the same goes for you then! You're starting to speak like an old fat noblewoman already." Again, she laughed heartily. "I'm sorry, my chancellor bugs me often to talk like one. It must've gotten jumbled up in my system," Queen Althea cupped her cheek with her hand and smiled another one of her innocent smiles. "Is this better?"

"Yeah, you sound better like that." I quipped. "Oh, by the way I brought some Rainbow Wine before I came here." I handed her a darkly-tinted Bordeaux bottle with a small pink and green ribbon tied around its neck part. Here eyes widened a little and took the bottle from me graciously. "You shouldn't have. No one here drinks wine but the Elders, but I'm grateful for your thoughtfulness." She took my hand and made me walk with her side by side.

After snippets of chitchats as we walked towards her garden table, she motioned me to sit right across from her and I followed. I have never attended tea parties before; they're for bratty people. Not that I thought Althea was bratty, of course. She's the exact opposite of it.

I looked at the table in front of me and took in what I saw: A huge plate of a variety of sweets (which made me smile intensely), various metallic tableware, and a book. She must have been reading it before I arrived.

Oh, I forgot to mention the porcelain cups and teapot. What kind of a tea party would it be if there's no _tea_ involved, right?

I noticed that there was an extra set of tableware and another chair unoccupied.

"Uh, hey. Are we waiting for someone else?" I asked the young Lilty queen in front of me who was busying herself with pouring some Cherry Cluster tea on both of our cups. She placed the pot back on the metallic tray on the table and turned back to me. "Yes, we're actually waiting for Keiss. He said he wanted to come as well."

I spluttered on my tea when I heard Keiss' name. Is he going to take the plane back? If that's the reason why, then…

I stood up from my seat and clapped my hands together, taking a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Queen-"

"Althea's fine," she interrupted, her eyebrows rising in puzzlement as she watched me.

"I mean, Althea, but I really have to go-"

"Where do you think you're going, woman?" I felt the hairs at the back of my neck rise at the sound of the voice. It sounded awfully familiar… it was Keiss! The other idiot!

"I heard from one of the guild members that you did something really awful this morning… something about, let's say, the Vineyard?" Keiss walked around me and after circling two times, he held a picture of a woman pulling- or "pushing" rather- a blonde man carrying several wooden crates in front of my face.

I quickly snatched the photo from his hands and hid it between my breasts as quickly as I can. "Hey, how did you know about this? Are you stalking me?" I snapped at him, my hands on my hips. He sighed at my reaction and shook his head. "Don't let it get to your head, you idiot. I'm not stalking you; I was just looking for some blackmail material." He replied nonchalantly. "And besides, why did you do that to the poor guy? Do you have a hidden anger on blonde-headed Clavats or something?"

"No, I don't! Don't believe any word he says, Althea." I groaned, briefly stealing a glance at the Lilty noblewoman.

The other Selkie placed a hand on his hip and frowned. "Are you out of your mind? What the Selkies do is my responsibility now! You keep on causing problems for me to handle…" He scratched his head and took a step closer to me. "The last time I heard you spilled hot coffee on a blonde Clavat in an inn in Padarak. What's next, trampling over another innocent blonde bystander with my plane?" He said in a rather mocking tone.

"Why the hell would I do that? It's all just a coincidence that they're all dumb blondes!" I exclaimed.

"You attack blonde Clavats?" Althea asked, her eyebrows rose in confusion.

"No!"

"Yes!"

We both screamed in unison. I glared a hole through his head and waited for him to give up this meaningless fight. He finally broke the eye contact and sighed once again. But this time, the atmosphere grew heavier, as if a course of Miasma was filling the air.

"… Belle. It's already been five months. Isn't it about time that… you give him up?" He looked down on the ground and slowly closed his eyes. "You're not the only one who wants him alive. All of us do."

"Keiss, that's not like you to stop believing. You can't give up!"

There was no answer. I quickly snapped my head to where Althea stood and stared at her expectantly, but she instantly looked away, her eyes cast downward.

It was true. It's been months since the restoration of the missing principle, and yet he still wasn't found. All three of us all made our own searches, but none of us were successful, not even a hint or a lead got through.

… Maybe I just kept making excuses for my dumb fantasy that someone who fell over thousands of feet above ground could survive such a thing. But he_ is_ a "crystal bearer", right?

_They have a point; after all it's been half a year since he disappeared...  
_

No. I can't loose hope. He still hasn't paid his debt to me! He's not the kind of person who would just up and leave when he still has something left to do. Not even the afterlife would be able to stop him... nothing!

My knuckles clenched together in failed repression.

"Oh, come on! What kind of people are you? You guys can't be serious; he's alive! Breathing! Am I the only one who could feel it? Am I?" I stated the fact loud and clear.

"Belle, we understand how you feel, but it's-" Althea started, but I interrupted her as she tried to continue her words, "How would you know how I _feel_? If the two of you would give up so easily, then I'm leaving! I'm going to prove to you people… that you thought wrong!"

As soon as I finished letting out my pent up frustration at them, I hurriedly stormed out of the palace grounds and got in Keiss' plane once more despite their constant calls of my name. I started the engine and flew it higher and higher to the sky, not wanting to think of anything else but my goal.

Unknowingly, a small tear rolled down my cheek.

The first time I cried since so many years ago.

And all of it… was because of him.

That jerk.

.~.~.

"_I mean, I'm still sure that he's out there somewhere, but I just can't put my finger on his exact location. I can never, ever be wrong. I am a Selkie after all!" _

Didn't I just say that to my friends a long time ago? It's been ages, and I still haven't found him. What in the world is happening to me anyway..? I should be stopping all of this nonsense, but here I am, still flying the same old plane with the same old story.

_I have new clothes though. It makes me a little happier, despite not being able to accomplish my goal. _I said to myself smugly, trying to ease my forming anguish.

Suddenly, I noticed huge clouds of black smoke gathering around my plane.

_Black clouds..? I have a bad feeling about this… _I thought, a cold sweat breaking through my forehead. I remember these clouds from somewhere; I just don't know where and when I've seen them.

Out of the blue a memory of the Alexis ship crossed my mind. I remembered Jegran with his glowing red hand and the same crimson tinted crystals scattered everywhere.

That day, the same black clouds were there on top of my head where the Zu came from.

Wait a minute, Zu birds?

From the black clouds around my plane, a group of said birds materialized in the air. _That's it! The Zu birds! But doesn't that mean-_ I didn't get to finish my line of thought when one of the birds flew straight for one of my plane's wings and hit on it as hard as it could. The plane juggled and swayed violently from the impact.

I screamed in terror; I wouldn't want to risk my life by being thousands of feet from the ground! I immediately stood up from the pilot's seat and clumsily ran for the emergency parachute case at the back of the small cockpit. But when I opened the case… there was nothing inside!

How am I supposed to leave this plane if I don't have something to save me from a huge fall?

I quickly grabbed the vault-like door at the ceiling and opened it to let myself out. My head was already peeking through the door when a large Zu sped through my line of vision and completely tackled the battered wing of the plane.

**Bang!**

It was the sound of the impact. My head banged on one of the walls of the emergency door's opening but I instantly recovered from the hit and took in the sudden pain. With blurry eyesight, I looked outside as I made my way out and saw the left wing of my plane detach itself from its body, like paper being ripped apart. I snapped back to reality in a second as the engine made a horrible sound- Instead of flying, the whole aircraft made a turn to dive downwards in a hastening pace.

This time I was immobilized. I didn't even notice that in that exact moment, my feet left the solid surface of metal, and my body upright in the open sky.

I was falling.

_Am I going to die..? Am I going to die like he did..?_

My eyes felt like they were stingy. I saw the Zu flying above me in the air, ready to attack. I was exposed to them after all, like a warrior dumb enough to forget his weapons in a war…

_Why am I not strong enough to defend myself…?_

From a distance, I could see a large Zu headed towards me as it glided past the other monsters with ease. I know what its aiming at, and I…

_What will happen to me now..?_

I can't bear to see what will happen next; I slowly closed my eyes and hoped it was all just a dream… that I was going to wake up and end this nightmare…

_Just a dream… Everything…_

Images started to wander around my thoughts. I saw Alfitaria, the Selkie guild, my friends. I saw Cid, Althea, and Keiss… they were all there. But there was one person in the picture who I noticed more than the rest- he had his back turned at me.

_The Crystalbearer… No, His name… What was his name..? That name…_

He wasn't just the Crystalbearer. He had that name I loved to call when he was still a hand's reach.

I want to call for it again… once more. The man that I followed since the very beginning. The man that saved me countless of times. The man who was the reason why I've been running around and wasting my life. The man who was the reason for everything. He was…

_Layle._

I heard a loud screeching sound and my name being yelled before everything faded to black.

**A/N**: Hey, hey, hey! :D I have finally become free from the tortures of High school and now I have more free time! w I hope this story would become successful someday.

By the way, the story's not going to be told through Belle's POV all the time. It's going to be officially Layle's by chapter 1, or when circumstances call for it, then it will be told through Belle's. :)

I'm not a Belle hater, okay? I don't believe in poor character personality, I believe in poor character _development_. She would've been an amazing addition (than a nuisance) to the game if she was given better attention during TCB's production process. D:

Don't you agree?

So... as always, RnR please! ~heart~

**UPDATE: **I actually have the first chapter of Always The Hero in my computer, but I need one more reviewer for me to post it in. xD And plus, I'm afraid it's not yet beta-ed. It's embarrassing to show other people word repetitions... it kills the mood of reading. O3O;

**Another update (August 7): **Oh, I was actually supposed to post it now, (the first chapter) but I thought of something really nice to add, so I may... post it tomorrow. -crosses fingers- I particularly dislike adding these kinds of things, but for some reason it's calling out to me... like a pestering fly waiting to be swatted by a fan. ROFL Soooo, I decided to type it in before I post.

Don't worry, it's worth the wait; It's currently 4,000+ _words_ long. teehee~

All you have to do is sit pretty and enjoy all the time you have before this comes your way. 'Cuz I swear... you'll be needing all the eye power to read the next one continuously.

(goes back to work)


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